6 Tips for Determining a Fair Hiring Salary

Some employers make salary offers based on what they can afford to pay a job candidate with no real thought as to what a competitive salary may be for the type of job that they are hiring for.

Other employers may have flexibility to hire a job candidate at a reasonable salary, but in an effort to save money, will try to hire a job candidate at the lowest salary possible without regard to the candidate's salary expectations or work experience.

Most employers probably fall into the category of not having a clue as to how to even figure out what is a fair and reasonable salary.

After all, how do you determine what to pay your employee if you've never hired anyone, or if you don't know what a fair market salary might be for a particular job?

It's understandable that entrepreneurs or smaller organizations and businesses in general may not have a clear sense of how to even begin to think about salary.

Here are 6 tips for determining what should be a fair salary to offer a job candidate:

Tip #1: Research Your Competitors To See What They Are Paying

What are others in your industry paying staff for similar types of positions? Don't be shy about picking up the phone and calling a competitor who may have a job that is posted online or in the newspaper and ask what the salary range is! You'd be surprised at the information that you can get this way.

Tip #2: Go To The Websites Of Larger Companies In Your Area

Many of the larger companies have job posting websites where the salaries for open jobs are listed on the site. Local Want Ads in newspapers are also a good source for salary information.

Tip #3: Perform A Local Or Regional Search Of Available Jobs

Job posting websites such as Monster.com or Career Builder.com feature companies that list salary ranges with their job postings. Go to these websites to see what other companies are paying.

Tip# 4: Use Free Salary Comparison Tools

Find out what the average salaries are for your industry in your region. Salary.com can be helpful because it gives you the ability to search by job category or job title.

When searching on any job posting website or on Salary.com, remember to limit your search to a particular state or region. What might be considered a fair market salary for a job in one part of the country may actually pay much less or a whole lot more in another part of the country.

Tip #5: Research on sites like Craigslist.com

Craigslist.com is an extremely popular website that large and small companies use when looking for employees. Candidates also post their resumes on this site. Take a look at what the salary expectations are for applicants in your region as a way to measure salary expectations and average salaries.

Tip #6: Just Ask Your Job Applicants!

Job seekers in general are very aware of what the market will pay for their particular skill set. If you are phone screening several candidates in the way that I recommend in Episode 3 "How To Phone Screen Job Candidates", you can ask your applicant what their salary requirements are.

You'll find that a general theme will emerge. Most applicants with similar years of experience will have salaries that will fall within a particular range. You can use the data from the phone screens and compare it with data that you find using the tips that I mentioned earlier.

To your success!

Dianne Shaddock is the Founder of Easy Small Business HR, Employee Hiring and Managing Tips. Through the Employee Hiring and Managing Tips podcast, blog, and weekly 'quick tips' e-newsletters, Dianne offers expert advice on how to make better hiring decisions, manage difficult employees, develop employee policies, motivate staff, and so much more. No stuffy, corporate HR policy lingo; but straight forward, easy to understand and implement advice for businesses just like yours. Stay ahead of the curve and go to Easy Small Business HR.com for more tips on how to hire and manage your staff effectively.

Many hiring managers ask questions to applicants that only elicit limited response. As managers, it's essential to ask the types of questions that will help you to understand just how much experience your job applicant is bringing to the table.

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